AirAsia fuselage found in Java Sea, officials say

The plane carrying 162 people disappeared from radar on Dec. 28 less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.

By
Associated Press /
January 14, 2015

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A journalist takes a photograph of an image believed to be of the fuselage of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 taken by an underwater ROV provided by the Singapore Navy, during a news conference at the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency in Jakarta January 14, 2015. A military vessel on Wednesday located the fuselage of the AirAsia passenger jet that crashed more than two weeks ago off the coast of Indonesia, raising hopes that more bodies will be found. The fuselage, the part of the plane that holds pilots and passengers, was discovered around 3 kilometers from where the tail of the aircraft was retrieved last weekend at the bottom of the Java Sea, Indonesian officials said.

Pius Erlangga/REUTERS

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Jakarta, Indonesia

A Singaporean navy ship has found the crashed AirAsia plane's fuselage, a 30-meter-long section with a wing attached, in the Java Sea, authorities said Wednesday.

Images taken by a remote-controlled vehicle from the ship showed parts of the plane's wing and words on the fuselage, SingaporeDefense Minister Ng Eng Hen said on his Facebook page. He said Indonesian search officials have been notified so they can begin recovery operations.

The plane's "black boxes" — the flight data recorder and cockpit flight recorder — were retrieved on Monday and Tuesday and will be key to learning what caused the plane to crash. Bad weather is a suspected factor.